Black Mirror Season 4 Has a New Twist: The Possibility of a Happy Ending

There’s a moment in every Black Mirror episode where the other shoe drops. Sometimes it happens early on—like in Season 3’s “Nosedive,” about a dystopian future in which social status is determined entirely by online ratings. Other times, it takes a while—like in Season 2’s “White Bear,” which waits until its conclusion to reveal that we’ve been watching a long, disturbing punishment all along, targeting the person we’ve been led to believe was the hero. The series has trained us to wait for the twist, something that reveals each episode’s sinister thesis.

It’s even more surprising, then, when Black Mirror gives us something truly unexpected: a happy ending. That’s the case for two—arguably three—episodes in the anthology’s fourth season, which premiered Friday on Netflix. And perhaps most shockingly of all, these are the episodes that stand out from the pack, taking Black Mirror in exciting new directions. (Caution: we’re going to discuss those endings below, so beware if you haven’t watched the entire season yet.)

“U.S.S. Callister,” a.k.a. “the Star Trek one,” will likely be this season’s answer to “San Junipero”—the breakout, Emmy-winning Season 3 installment about two women falling in love inside a computer simulation. In “Callister,” a group of people who work at a gaming company find themselves cloned in their chief technical officer’s (Jesse Plemons) private version of the game, which he uses to torment them into playing along with his own cheesy story lines.

The reality is virtual, but the stakes are real—because this is Black Mirror, and we’ve seen how dark the show can get. That inherent anxiety makes character moments like Jimmi Simpson’s big speech near the end of the episode—in which he recounts how Plemons’s character broke his spirit by tossing a cloned version of his son out of an air lock—resonate so much more strongly, and makes the episode’s final, triumphant payoff even more of a relief. After a thrilling chase sequence that cuts back and forth between reality and the game, the crew of the ship, imprisoned until now, find themselves free to explore the vast new expanses of an unknown digital universe.

“Hang the D.J.” has a similar feeling of urgency, not least because Black Mirror episodes about dating and relationships (“San Junipero” excluded) always go terribly. Its central conceit—a program arbitrarily gives people in another apparent dystopia a set time limit for their relationships before its algorithm ultimately finds each of them The One—is upended in a sudden and surprising way, right as all seems to be lost. Only then does the show reveal that our two heroes, kept apart by the machine but brought back together by destiny, are actually an anthropomorphized simulation of two real people in the real world, calculating their prospects of a successful relationship via a dating app. We’ve just seen one of the 98 percent of times their relationship is predicted to work out. The last few minutes of the episode are such a head rush they make you feel giddy.

Which brings us to “Black Museum,” the season finale—and an episode that would also work as a series finale, as it may be the quintessential Black Mirror fantasy. The hour takes us through a litany of Black Mirror-like shorts—a doctor becomes addicted to a device he uses to feel and diagnose his patients’ pain; the consciousness of a dead mother is placed into the head of her partner, but gradually, he sours on their arrangement; a mad scientist makes an exact copy of a convicted criminal in hologram form, so that people can pull the lever on his electric chair and watch him die again and again—before settling all of them in a satisfying, if not exactly uplifting, conclusion. It’s most comparable to the 2014 Black Mirror special “White Christmas” in its format: bite-size stories introduce technological concepts that become intertwined by the episode’s end. This time, though, the subjects aren’t secretly living in a simulation or imprisoned inside an egg. The character who becomes drastically more menacing as the story goes on receives his much-deserved comeuppance by the end, and our hero literally rides off into the sunset with a smile on her face.

These payoffs are exhilarating—but they wouldn’t pack such a punch if they hadn’t come after three seasons of really-makes-you-think thought experiments that coaxed humanity’s darkest sins into the light. Previously, Black Mirror episodes tended to follow a pattern; viewers knew not to get too invested in the livelihoods of their characters, because we knew those characters would prove to be either deeply flawed or hapless idiots, victims of their own relationships with tech.

And half of this season falls into that same predictable format: in “Arkangel,” a mother inadvertently ruins the life of the daughter she wants to protect by implanting child-monitoring software into her head. Yep, saw that coming. In “Metalhead,” a woman fails to return to her family after being tracked by a murderous robotic “dog.” Sounds about right. “Crocodile” ends with our protagonist getting arrested for leaving a trail of murders easily picked up by new software that visually records the memories of witnesses. Naturally. Each of these episodes provides an interesting situation to mull over—but by the end, we’re de-sensitized to the disappointment prompted by downer ending after downer ending.

But last season, “San Junipero”—the first Black Mirror installment with an unambiguously happy conclusion—turned that idea on its head. And with “U.S.S. Callister,” “Hang the D.J.,” and “Black Museum,” the show continues to evolve and surprise us—the surprise being, this time, that its endings don’t always have to be bleak. These happy episodes come at just the right moment in the series’s history: its shocker resolutions had already become a meme, something fans and haters alike could joke about. More broadly, giant plot twists have become such a norm that they’re becoming impossible not to spot.

So when Black Mirror began, we soon figured out the show’s main twist: there would be no happy endings. But four seasons in, the new twist is that this is not always the case. And occasionally, it’s nice not to be reminded how easy it would be to destroy ourselves.

Westworld (Season 2)

HBO is once again hoping you’ll ignore the big Game of Thrones-shaped hole in its schedule and turn your attention back to the sci-fi mind game that is Westworld. The Emmy-nominated series, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton, is ready to confound you once again in its second season. Until its spring 2018 premiere, take a trip back in time and revisit nine burning questions we still have about the finale.

Photo: By John P. Johnson/HBO.

Grown-ish

Yara Shahidi takes the lead in this youthful Black-ish spin-off set to air on Freeform starting Jan. 3, 2018. In this series, Zoey is finally off to college, stumbling through cringeworthy rites of passage like embarrassing herself at a frat party and hiding secrets from her parents.

Photo: By Eric Liebowitz/Freeform.

Superhero Smorgasbord

Every superhero you love is coming out with a new movie in 2018. In no particular order, get ready for a bounty that includes: Black Panther,Avengers: Infinity War,Deadpool 2,The New Mutants,X-Men: Dark Phoenix,Ant-Man and the Wasp,Venom, and Aquaman.

The Winter Olympics

’Tis the season to watch a bunch of perfect human specimens fight for tiny gold medallions. This year’s Winter Olympics will kick off on Feb. 9, 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Photo: By Julian Finney/Getty Images.

The Chi

After breaking out on Master of None and winning a historic Emmy for one of this year’s best TV episodes, Lena Waithe is ready to claim her spot in the prestige-TV realm. Enter The Chi, her Showtime series about young people coming of age in Chicago, set to premiere on Jan. 7.

Photo: By Matt Dinerstein/SHOWTIME.

A Wrinkle in Time

The classic Madeleine L’Engle tale is finally coming to the big screen on March 9, 2018, thanks to Disney and director Ava DuVernay. The sci-fi story about a girl tesseracting her way through time to find her missing father will star newcomer Storm Reid alongside stars like Oprah Winfrey,Mindy Kaling,Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Pine.

Photo: By Atsushi Nishijima/Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

After some catastrophic ups and downs, Han Solo’s origin story will finally be revealed to us on May 25, 2018. The Star Wars spin-off stars Alden Ehrenreich as the galactic smuggler and also features Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian and Emilia Clarke playing a mysterious character named Kira.

Photo: From Lucasfilm Ltd./Everett Collection.

Westworld (Season 2)

HBO is once again hoping you’ll ignore the big Game of Thrones-shaped hole in its schedule and turn your attention back to the sci-fi mind game that is Westworld. The Emmy-nominated series, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton, is ready to confound you once again in its second season. Until its spring 2018 premiere, take a trip back in time and revisit nine burning questions we still have about the finale.

By John P. Johnson/HBO.

Grown-ish

Yara Shahidi takes the lead in this youthful Black-ish spin-off set to air on Freeform starting Jan. 3, 2018. In this series, Zoey is finally off to college, stumbling through cringeworthy rites of passage like embarrassing herself at a frat party and hiding secrets from her parents.

By Eric Liebowitz/Freeform.

Superhero Smorgasbord

Every superhero you love is coming out with a new movie in 2018. In no particular order, get ready for a bounty that includes: Black Panther,Avengers: Infinity War,Deadpool 2,The New Mutants,X-Men: Dark Phoenix,Ant-Man and the Wasp,Venom, and Aquaman.

The Winter Olympics

’Tis the season to watch a bunch of perfect human specimens fight for tiny gold medallions. This year’s Winter Olympics will kick off on Feb. 9, 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

By Julian Finney/Getty Images.

Black Klansman

If the title alone doesn’t catch your eye, the artists behind it surely will. Spike Lee is directing this thriller, produced by nascent horror maestro Jordan Peele, about a black detective who infiltrates the KKK in the 1970s. John David Washington (son of Denzel) plays the lead, while the rest of the cast includes Adam Driver and rising star Laura Harrier.Black Klansman does not yet have a release date.

Left, by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; Right, by Kevin Mazur/WireImage.

The Incredibles 2

This superhero movie, which hits theaters on June 15, 2018, gets its own slide—because fans have been waiting for this sequel for 13 years. At long last, the Parr family is back fighting crime, with a little help from close friend Frozone (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson). It’s time to find your supersuit—and remember, no capes!

Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

The Happytime Murders

Brian Henson’s (son of Jim) dark detective twist on the pleasant world of puppetry promises to be a baffling pop-cultural delight in the vein of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Humans and puppets coexist in this dark tale about a serial killer who’s out to murder the stars of hit 80s series The Happytime Gang. The cast is stacked with comedy stars, led by Melissa McCarthy,Maya Rudolph, and Elizabeth Banks. The film will hit theaters on Aug. 17, 2018.

Jessica Jones (Season 2)

Everyone’s favorite grouchy, hard-drinking superhero is finally back for a second season on March 8, with Krysten Ritter slipping on the familiar leather jacket for Jones’s latest adventures. Though the plot is still fairly under wraps, a teaser trailer promises that she’s still a sardonic and deliciously violent destroyer of men.

By Myles Aronowitz/Netflix.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

My, my, how can you resist this? The sequel to the 2008 blockbuster musical is finally on its way, and it’s already guaranteed to be your favorite guilty pleasure of 2018. The story is a prequel to the original, revolving around Meryl Streep’s character when she was a young woman (perhaps even . . . a young dancing queen). Not only is its core cast back in action, but the truly iconic Cher has decided to bless the sequel with her presence. Catch it in theaters on July 20, 2018.

Roseanne

Break out your flannel and sarcasm, because Roseanne is back. The classic 90s sitcom is getting the nostalgia reboot treatment on March 27, more than 20 years after it first ended.

From ABC.

Ocean’s 8

The all-female Ocean’s 11 reboot is easily one of the most anticipated films of the year, not least because of its excellent cast (Rihanna!Sandra Bullock!Cate Blanchett!). The glitzy heist movie revolves around the Met Gala, promising a coterie of celeb cameos, and is slated to hit theaters on June 8, 2018. Satiate yourself until then by re-watching the perfect trailer.

By Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace

We may be in the midst of a true-crime revival, but few productions promise to be as opulent as this Ryan Murphy mini-series. The horrifying true story about the murder of fashion icon Gianni Versace will be retold with a stellar cast that includes Édgar Ramírez as Versace himself, Penélope Cruz as his sister Donatella, and Ricky Martin as Versace’s partner, Antonio D’Amico.

By Jeff Daly/FX.

The Chi

After breaking out on Master of None and winning a historic Emmy for one of this year’s best TV episodes, Lena Waithe is ready to claim her spot in the prestige-TV realm. Enter The Chi, her Showtime series about young people coming of age in Chicago, set to premiere on Jan. 7.

By Matt Dinerstein/SHOWTIME.

A Wrinkle in Time

The classic Madeleine L’Engle tale is finally coming to the big screen on March 9, 2018, thanks to Disney and director Ava DuVernay. The sci-fi story about a girl tesseracting her way through time to find her missing father will star newcomer Storm Reid alongside stars like Oprah Winfrey,Mindy Kaling,Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Pine.

By Atsushi Nishijima/Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

After some catastrophic ups and downs, Han Solo’s origin story will finally be revealed to us on May 25, 2018. The Star Wars spin-off stars Alden Ehrenreich as the galactic smuggler and also features Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian and Emilia Clarke playing a mysterious character named Kira.